REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 37 



tion. Even with, this plan in mind it was necessary to suspend all 

 slaughtering of animals and much of the other work for over six 

 weeks in May and June in order to avoid a deficiency. Although the 

 total expenditures of the first five months of the present fiscal year 

 for the entire work of the Bureau have averaged $46, 178. 68 per month, 

 or at the rate of $554,144.16 per annum, it appears certain that the 

 decrease which has been made, and which can be carried still further 

 as the work proceeds, will bring the total for the year within the sum 

 appropriated, and this without the necessity of interrupting the op- 

 erations. 



We have now entered upon the most critical period in the work 

 for the eradication of this disease. In all of the infected States the 

 animals known to have been diseased or exposed have been slaugh- 

 tered with few exceptions, but in Maryland, New Jersey, and New 

 York the plague continues to develop at greater or less intervals, 

 and, consequently, newly infected herds are discovered. In Mary- 

 land and New Jersey, where the work has been longest in progress, 

 these new infections are becoming less and less frequent. Even in 

 the worst infected districts on Long Island the prevalence of the 

 malady has been greatly diminished. With this decrease in the 

 amount of disease, the reason for the stringent regulations becomes 

 less apparent to the cattle owners, to prosecuting officers, and to citi- 

 zens generally. It is therefore much more difficult to enforce the 

 laws and the regulations made under them; flagrant violations become 

 more frequent, and in some cases efforts are made, usually by cow 

 dealers, to propagate the disease. 



These facts show the importance of maintaining the quarantine 

 restrictions until the last vestige of the contagion has disappeared. 

 And above all should we be able to preserve the interstate channels 

 of commerce free from infection. The large sum of money expended 

 and the encouraging progress of the work, with the rapid approach 

 of the time when the country could be declared free from this plague, 

 emphasize the necessity of adopting every precaution to secure early 

 and complete success. But how is this to be accomplished? Evi- 

 dently by enforcing every regulation against the spread of the 

 disease until the contagion has entirely disappeared. 



I have already mentioned the growing disposition on the part of 

 State officials to relax their regulations, to allow violations to go un- 

 punished, to remove restrictions before safety has been assured. 

 This disposition is alarming, because just as the whole pleuro-pneu- 

 monia infection in this country arose from a single case of the disease, 

 so now the escape of one affected animal may undo all that has been 

 accomplished by two years of indefatigable labor and by an expend- 

 iture of nearly $1,000,000. 



To guard against this danger, -I would respectfully and most earn- 

 estly recommend amendments to the act establishing the Bureau of 

 Animal Industry imposing a penalty upon any person who removes 

 or causes to be removed any bovine animal from a section declared 

 by the Secretary of Agriculture to be an infected district to any 

 other State or Territory, or who transports or causes to be trans- 

 ported any such animal upon any railroad or vessel which forms part 

 of a transportation line from one State or Territory into another. At 

 present there is 110 penalty, except for those who knowingly ship a 

 diseased animal from one State to another. Experience shows that 

 it is impossible to prove that a person knows an animal to be affected. 

 It is also more dangerous to ship exposed animals than affected 



